Almost 3,000 cabin crew from British Airways’ mixed fleet branch at Heathrow will strike again next week in a row over what the union describes as poverty pay. The crew will walk out for 3 days from next Thursday, following a 48-hour strike this week that led to about 100 flights being cancelled or merged by BA. The union, Unite, says pay at the carrier is so low that crew are taking second jobs or working while sick because they cannot afford to take a day off. Oliver Richardson, a national officer of the Unite union, said: “British Airways should be under no illusion about our members’ determination to secure a settlement that addresses their concerns over poverty pay.” BA said the strike action was “bizarre and regrettable”. The airline said the last strike had failed to disrupt operations. <br/>
oneworld
Malaysia Airlines say it will make an order for 25 new widebodies by the end of the year, with plans for deliveries to start in 2018. The carrier says that 15 of these aircraft are for replacement of the same number of Airbus A330-300s coming off lease, and the remaining 10 targeted at growth. The carrier would only say it is still "assessing all models", and that the jets will have a 2-class configuration. CE Peter Bellew had however previously said that the airline is eyeing the A330neo. The new widebodies will be operated "predominantly on new routes and also to replace narrowbodies on some of the existing routes", says the airline. It adds that the aim is to maintain a fleet of around 80 aircraft. This will include its 6 new A350-900s on order from Air Lease Corporation. <br/>
Qantas is hoping to extract more value from its multi-million dollar investment into start-up Data Republic, unveiling plans to hire a new senior manager to develop data products on the technology platform. The airline’s loyalty division joined NAB Ventures and Westpac’s Reinventure Fund in contributing to a US$10.5m round of series A funding for the Sydney-based start-up in May last year. Data Republic operates a collaborative platform that enables companies and govts to securely exchange data. Qantas Loyalty has contributed “anonymous, segment-level insights data” to the platform as part of its investment, and its CIO Sam Charmand is a non-executive director of the start-up. However, the airline is now looking at what it can do to maximise its return from this investment and participation in Data Republic. <br/>
American Airlines late Thursday denied the "presidential grievance" sent to the airline Dec 21 by the Association of Professional Flight Attendants over the uniform crisis that has affected thousands of flight attendants and other AA employees. News of the denied presidential grievance — one of the most serious labour grievances that can be filed at AA — came from Cindi Simone, managing director of labour relations for AA. Simone recounted at length all the steps AA has taken in the intervening 3 months since it first became apparent that flight attendants and other employees were experiencing serious reactions believed to be tied to the new uniforms. More than US$1.2m has been spent on testing to date, with no clear answer to what is causing the reactions yet uncovered. <br/>
American Airlines has been named in a federal complaint that claims the carrier discriminates against people with food allergies. Food Allergy Research & Education filed the complaint Tuesday. It follows an episode in which American denied a Washington family's request to pre-board with their 7-year-old daughter, who has multiple food allergies. FARE’s complaint, filed with the US DoT, requests an investigation of American Airlines for possible violations of the Air Carrier Access Act. The complaint focuses on what FARE says is American Airlines’ written policy prohibiting passengers with food allergies from pre-boarding. “We are calling on the DoT to take enforcement action and calling for a full retraction of this discriminatory policy,” FARE said. <br/>